1936 On the Continent

moral is to read books, but to read them critically—and best of all to check them up by the personal experiences of one’s own eyes in the country.
    There are books to be had on all possible aspects of Russian life and endeavour. One thing may strike the reader as interesting, even before he has had the chance to check up with the use of his own eyes. It is this: that even in the books of the most absolute opponents of the regime it is usually admitted that there is
something
new and good. And even more interesting are the books written by the “non-political” experts on their various subjects. These are countless. Books have been written on Russian architecture, medicine and science in Russia,education, law, art, exploration, the financial system. … Many of these have been written by men who profess not the faintest interest in or knowledge of any political faith, either Conservatism or Communism. They have gone to Russia to see how their own particular job is done there. And the majority of them have come back very firmly impressed.
Experts Impressed
    An instance that came to my own notice:—Some years ago I was travelling with a couple of young English doctors down the Volga on a steamer. Neither of them was a Communist, nor within measurable distance of being called a Communist. It was the early days of “Intourist” then, and the trip was not without its discomforts. The two young doctors who had come merely for a holiday were inclined to grumble at the discomforts—and, by a natural transition of ideas, to disapprove of everything that they saw in Russia.
    Arrived at the provincial town of Rostov-on-Don, it occurred to them to want to visit the local hospital. At first they were refused permission—as any casual strangers would be if they arrived in London and asked to be shown over St. George’s. However, after they had proved their medical qualifications, they were taken over. They came back from it as men who had seen wonders. They had been impressed with everything they saw, not only in comparison with Russian standards but in comparison with the highest London standards. Their attitude thereafter was the attitude that I have observed of so many other professional people. It was expressed by the saying, “Well, we’re not Communists, and we don’t know anything whatever about the good, or bad, effects of Communism on the mass of the people. It is not our line of country. But hospitals
are
our own line of country—and that hospital in the southern Russian town was, in our expert knowledge, being extremely well run.” (It will be observed, as of further interest, that the hospital was
not
a special institution, open to the inspection of tourists, and especially arranged to impress them. Ordinary tourists were not allowed near it; and the two young doctors had only been allowed over it after they had produced their medical qualifications.)
When to go to Russia and What to See
    There is a natural assumption by a visitor planning a first visit that summer is the best time to go to Russia. This may be partly financial, as the boat service, which is on the whole the cheapest way of getting to Russia, is out of action during most of the winter. It may be also partly a natural dread of Russian cold.
    I personally have been in Russia in almost all seasons of the year except the spring. I have been in July, August, September, October and part of November (when the first snows were beginning to fall), and also, just recently, in the dead middle of the Moscow winter, in the months of January and February.
    There is much to be said for both the heat and the cold. Russia—surprisingly to many English people—is
hot
in the summer; Leningrad and Moscow are both usually a good deal hotter in the middle of the summer than are London and the English South Coast; and southern Russian resorts such as Yalta in the Crimea are as hot as the French Riviera. It is surprising to see children in the streets of Moscow and Leningrad running about in little more than bathing-slips and bathing-dresses—and getting burnt as brown from head to foot as little negroes. (To most English visitors this is a phase of Russian life that they had not reckoned on at all!)
    If the English visitor decides to go in the middle of the summer, he must certainly take his lightest clothes (with an overcoat or so for the boat voyage, as it is always chilly at sea in the evenings) and certainly also his bathing-dress. Bathing in summer in